This just came up on the wire... 64% of PSA pilots voted down the CRJ900 plan. They rejected the proposed pay rates. The pilots thanked their fellow pilots at Piedmont for "steadfastly" refusing to discuss with management over the same aircraft. So where does that leave US Airways now?

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. - A. Einstein

As others have said, the CR9 is in service with mesa. I saw several @ CLT about a couple months ago. While PSA have thanked others including Piedmont, Piedmont could add more Dash 8-300's to its fleet and PSA could add more 700's.

Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 6):Piedmont could add more Dash 8-300's to its fleet and PSA could add more 700's.

That's a good point, MCOf.

Both the Dash-8 300 and CRJ-700 fleets at US are very small. About a dozen aircraft in each of those fleets.

Taking more deliveries of Q300 or CR7 would up the efficiency of the existing fleets by increasing fleet counts to 30 or 40. Plus, no labor issues (presumably).

The CRJ-700 is still the perfect CRJ, IMO. Each seat larger, your benefit diminishes. The revenue jump from CR2 to CR7 is _much_ fatter than the revenue jump from CR7 to CR9. But the fuel jumps are about equal. In many cases, a CR7 is the perfect plane and the CR9 is overkill.

Quoting Boston92 (Reply 9):So will Mesa be replaced with "US Airways operated by America West" or will they bring in another regional airline like mesa to do the job??

Good question, I know they wanted PSA to fly the CR9's. The current AMerica West Express planes are operated by mesa, but the Old US Airways didn't renewq the Mesa contract. The HPX contract will come up in 2010 or 2012 I think. I know The New US Airways plan not to renew the Mesa contract, but that being said, money speaks.

As mentioned earliar Mesa already flies 900s for US. However, US was trying to get more 900s (they already have room for something like 34 more in the mainline scope). US tried to get the PSA piltos to fly these a/c without a raise, but the pilots refused. Since then it has been announced that Republic will fly some of these aircraft (those allowed by the mainline scope) in the form of 175s.

If you had read other replys... then you would realize that the pics you chose are pics of 900s from the pre-merger American West/Mesa feeder deal. "Old" US Airways never had 900s but does has outstanding CRJ orders with BBD that they have tried to convert to 900s to be flown by PSA... hence the news.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. - A. Einstein

Quoting Planemaker (Reply 13):If you had read other replys... then you would realize that the pics you chose are pics of 900s from the pre-merger American West/Mesa feeder deal. "Old" US Airways never had 900s but does has outstanding CRJ orders with BBD that they have tried to convert to 900s to be flown by PSA... hence the news.

Your thread title then is still a bit misleading. It should be "No *more* CRJ900s..."

That is why I quoted your title. You said... " No CRJ 900's for USAways - For now at least". Maybe a better, less miss leading title would have been.. " No new CRJ900's for now" or 'No more CRJ 900's..". Something like that.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog"

Quoting EMBQA (Reply 15):That is why I quoted your title. You said... " No CRJ 900's for USAways - For now at least". Maybe a better, less miss leading title would have been.. " No new CRJ900's for now" or 'No more CRJ 900's..". Something like that.

Yes, I see your point... IF all you did was read the title and did not read the post... which clearly refers to PSA & mentions Piedmont which is "old" US Airways... which has all been in the news over the proposed 900 flying. Thus, one should have quickly realize that the post, even with the ambiguous title, had absolutely nothing to do with America West/Mesa's 900s or have inferred somehow that they were no longer flying them.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind. - A. Einstein

I heard, not from managment mind you, that PSA can make the pilots for something like 90 days while they negotiate the payscale. So you may still see PSA getting the aircraft while negotiations take place.

Quoting Planemaker (Reply 13):"Old" US Airways never had 900s but does has outstanding CRJ orders with BBD that they have tried to convert to 900s to be flown by PSA... hence the news.

Quoting Doug_Or (Reply 20):I'm pretty sure its not a question of if, but a question of who will fly them.

If BBD is sitting on a lots of money that the US has payed in deposits, I'm sure there will be more CRJs... I doubt US is willing to kiss that money goodbye if they need more aircraft. Why not just pay the pilots a little extra, they deserve it for the responsibility they have.

Quoting Supa7E7 (Reply 7):The CRJ-700 is still the perfect CRJ, IMO. Each seat larger, your benefit diminishes. The revenue jump from CR2 to CR7 is _much_ fatter than the revenue jump from CR7 to CR9. But the fuel jumps are about equal. In many cases, a CR7 is the perfect plane and the CR9 is overkill.

Now the CRJ700 and CRJ900 use the same engine, the CF34-8C5, so the costs should drop there, as the engine can fly on the CR9 until it reaches interal ops temps and then be derated and fly another 2,000-3,000 hours on the CR7 before going in for MX... that might compensate the fuel costs a little...?

The reason that the pilots voted down the 900's is because the regional ALPA head was going to turn it down regardless of the vote outcome. Why vote for something if your vote will be trumped anyway. On the other hand, ALPA did submit a new proposal to US, so we will see if that will work or not. Hopefully it does. PSA needs the 900's...the -200 just plain sucks.

It's usually a good idea to know what all the buttons do...before you push them.

Quoting CRJ900 (Reply 21):Why not just pay the pilots a little extra, they deserve it for the responsibility they have.

The pilots get 2 raises annually. Nobody else received raises or "extra" money, and ALL of us have received more responsibility. This thinking is about as dumb as you can get. Think about it. More money for pilots, more money for ALPA who negotiates for more money for pilots, and the circle continues till the company goes bankrupt.

It's usually a good idea to know what all the buttons do...before you push them.

Is it? I thought pilot pay scales were determined by how many seats the aircraft has and its MTOW and a few other things which I'm not familiar with... hence my suggestion, as the CR9 is indeed bigger that the CRJ200 and -700.

I am not disagreeing with you, but what I meant is that it is the SAME type cert. and that it is only a 16 seat jump. This mentality that ALPA has installed in every pilot that "more seats=more money" has got to come to grips with reality. I can see more money for a different type cert. and maybe a 25 seat jump, but 16 seats? Come on. Give it up for now ALPA and hammer US when the contract is due in 2009.

It's usually a good idea to know what all the buttons do...before you push them.